March 22nd

After Libya, Obama will have hard time thwarting Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am The attack by the allies on Muammar Gadhafi's forces, with the Arab League's encouragement, should be reminding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Western-Arab attack on Iraq at the beginning of 1991. The price tag the Arabs showed the (Republican) American president, George Bush the elder, for their support in the war against a member of the Arab league was the dragging of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to an international peace conference in Madrid. Bush demanded of Shamir that he choose between expanding the settlements in the territories and a reduction in American aid. » Read more

Hamas protests UN plans to teach Holocaust in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am The United Nations has launched a new plan to teach the Holocaust in Gaza schools, drawing fierce condemnation from Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, school teachers — and even the body tasked with peace negotiations with Israel. If implemented, it would be the first time most Palestinian children learn about Jewish suffering. But the outcry underscores how sensitive the issue is to Palestinians. » Read more

Air Force strikes in Gaza; 'children hurt' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian sources in Gaza said Israeli aircraft bombed a number of targets in the Hamas-ruled territory late Monday night. At least 17 people, among them seven children and two women, were injured in the air raids, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia said. The IDF has yet to confirm or deny the report. » Read more

Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing -UN investigator ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday. U.S. academic Richard Falk was speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning Israeli behaviour on territory it has occupied since 1967. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Abbas, man of peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Abbas faced the Israeli nation on Saturday evening on Channel 2’s Meet the Press and answered every question Israelis have regarding the seriousness of the Palestinians regarding peace. To me, it is quite amazing that none of the Israeli newspapers wrote anything about the interview on Sunday morning. I am quite sure that if Abbas had spoken against peace it would have made headlines. If Abbas did not say he wanted to reach a full comprehensive agreement that would end the conflict and end all historic claims, as he did, it would have made news. » Read more

Israel vacates Jerusalem building claimed by Russia ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel on Monday began vacating the premises of a Russian landmark in Jerusalem, an official said, in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit this week to Moscow. The two countries had decided several years ago that the historic 19th century stone-hewn building near the Old City, would be handed over to Russia, but there were delays in implementation. » Read more

UN: Both sides need to do more to comply with Goldstone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jordana Horn, Tovah Lazaroff - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Neither Israel nor the Palestinians has made significant progress in investigating claims of war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead, said a United Nations committee in Geneva on Monday. The committee was addressing the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which on Monday debated a report on Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the 2009 conclusions of the UN fact finding mission led by South African judge Richard Goldstone. The Goldstone panel looked into Israel’s military activity during Cast Lead and accused both Israel and the Palestinians of war crimes. » Read more

Israeli air strikes wound 19 in Gaza Strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday, wounding at least 19 people, after militants fired mortar shells and rockets into the Jewish state, witnesses and militant groups said. The number of raids and casualties in one evening showed the rising tension between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. Hamas has stepped up rocket salvoes into Israel after a hiatus since the two sides fought a war two years ago, claiming responsibility for firing more than two dozen mortar shells and rockets at the weekend. » Read more

Why J Street speaks to us ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Logan Bayroff, Jesse Rothman - (Opinion) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am On the heels of J Street’s Second National Conference, there have been a series of predictable – but still saddening – verbal and written attacks from the Right. Given these attacks, it would be reasonable to ask: Why did 500 students – a great number of whom, like us, grew up in youth movements, Jewish summer camps, are active in our Hillels and hang Israeli flags on our dorm room walls – travel to Washington to participate? Here’s why: because we’re tired of the relationship we were told we had to have with Israel. And we’re forging a new one. » Read more

Israeli forces re-enter Awarta ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli forces re-entered the northern West Bank village of Awarta at sunrise Tuesday, announcing via loudspeaker that the community was under curfew the for a second time this month. The village had been under a military curfew from March 12-16 as Israeli police, military and intelligence forces searched the area for evidence relating to the murder of five settlers in the adjacent illegal settlement Itamar. » Read more